PERSONAL BUTLERS: WHAT DO YOU GET AND HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Personal butlers: what do you get and how much does it cost? - Luxury Travel Magazine
| Danielle Robertson, 4th November 2011 | |||||||
| Having a butler at one’s beck and call is a distant fantasy for most. But this dream can come true, at least for a while, when you book a holiday at a luxury resort or hotel where personal butler services are available. But what exactly does having a personal butler entail? Let’s take Alila Hotels and Resorts as an example. The brand operates nine properties in the Asia-Pacific region, with four of them in Bali, and a butler comes with every room at their two Bali villa properties, Alila Villas Soori and Alila Villas Uluwatu. When booking at one of the villa properties, Alila provides an online preference menu where you can select your pillow type and nominate interests during your stay, as well as bath services at turn down (with options including an Iced Cucumber, Baileys Milk and Champagne and Berry bath), massage and dining options. This is so your butler can get to know you better, and on arrival will have your villa prepared for you based on your preferences. You’ll walk into your villa and hear your favourite type of music is already playing. Your ideal pillow is lying on your bed and the room is scented by your favourite candle fragrance. An itinerary has been set out to match your interests and the food menu has been put together in accordance to your dietary requirements. There are three levels of butler, or host, service to choose from, depending on your preferences. Every butler gets special training for the job, participating in an initial butler training and undertaking an orientation and training program for each level of butler service. The first, called a private butler, is on call at all hours for anything you need, but will leave it up to you to make contact, respecting your wish for privacy. The second level is the discrete butler, a standard service that includes making up your room every morning and night and being on call for any request you might have. The third and highest level of service comes from the indulgent butler. If you take up this option you have a butler available 24/7 who effectively acts as a personal assistant, and if it’s required you can have a special mobile phone to contact this butler directly. As well as offering room services and cleaning, personal butlers act as concierges, organising in-room dining, restaurant reservations, floral arrangements, lunch kits for beach walks, activities and more special requests like co-ordinating romantic settings for marriage proposals. But perhaps the best part of having a personal butler is you get all of that, no matter which level of service you have selected, for free – while certain requests may come with a price tag (for example massages, in-room bar options) the butler service itself is included in the room price, so there is no extra cost regardless of whether you prefer to be left alone in privacy or indulged at every turn. | |||||||
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